


A Meme By Any Other Name (Would Still Be A Meme)

by prinecssleia (jensenackals)



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BuckyNat Secret Santa, F/M, Post Infinity War, avengers endgame specualtion, post Endgame, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-07 10:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17364182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jensenackals/pseuds/prinecssleia
Summary: Natasha makes a visit to Wakanda and finds Bucky all caught up on internet culture. Despite her best attempts to convince him that he needs to talk like a normal human being, he continues to use memes and internet slang in everyday speech. Shuri is very pleased.BuckyNat Secret Santa gift for queenoftherandomwordThe prompt was "You're doing amazing sweetie!"





	A Meme By Any Other Name (Would Still Be A Meme)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [QueenoftheRandomWord42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenoftheRandomWord42/gifts).



 

 

  

***

 

 

Squinting against the late afternoon sun, Natasha strode down the Quinjet ramp and onto the palace landing pad. It had been almost three weeks since she visited Wakanda and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been looking forward to this.

Her last assignment had been a rough one. The Recluse, Anya as Natasha had known her when they were growing up, was making noise with a terrorist cell in eastern Europe. Attempting to make contact with the local black market buyers for a new super weapon in exchange for manpower.

Natasha had been able to infiltrate and bring down the organization, but Anya had gotten away. Going to ground and leaving no trail to follow. 

The personal nature of the mission had left her drained. Not to mention Natasha had gone almost an entire week without a proper shower. She was no stranger to roughing it but three weeks waking up with a crick in your neck could really take a toll on a person. 

Natasha missed good water pressure, she missed food that wasn't field rations; she missed sleeping in an actual bed, with sheets and pillows and a mattress that wasn't on the floor. 

But most of all she missed James.  

After Thanos. After they brought back all those they had lost. After they saved the universe. Natasha had disappeared in an effort to process everything that had happened. 

Two months later, James had found her. 

**_I remember everything Natalia, and you were the one good thing in all of it._ **

Natasha couldn't stop the small smile that crept over her face at the memory. For the first time in a long time, she felt a sense of peace.  

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Natasha made her way through the magnificent mirrored doors into the large entry hall. However, the lone figure waiting inside wasn't the person she had been expecting. 

"Okoye," Natasha nodded in greeting.

"We weren't expecting you until this evening," The general gave her a quick smile then cocked her head behind her. "He's in the lab."

Natasha held back an eye roll. "Of course he is."

She followed Okoye through the ground floor of the palace and down several flights of stairs before they reached Wakanda's top secret R&D department. The general waved her kimoyo beads in front of a security panel and the steel-plated door slid open with a hiss. A grunt, followed by a peel of laughter, met them at the bottom of the spiral walkway. 

Okoye and Natasha shared a look then hurried down into the main testing room, where they found James sparring with a practice dummy and Shuri circling around him, a recording device in hand. While they watched, James swung at the manikin with terrible form, which ducked out of his way at the last second before replying with a fist of its own. 

It sent James careening across the room to land in a heap at the base of the walkway. 

"BAE!" James beamed from his spot on the floor, before standing and giving Natasha swift kiss on the cheek. "Thank God you're here, I've got something to show you."

"Did you just call me _bae_?" 

He gave her a ornery wink. "It means before anyone else-"

"I know what it means," Natasha replied thoroughly exasperated. "You do realize, you are one hundred and two years old?"

James only response was a broad grin as he took her hand and tugged her over to the monitors on the far wall. 

After a few moments of staring at the screens without comprehension, Natasha sighed. "What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?" 

"Here!" James said proudly, pointing toward screen in the middle. "I joined twitter!"

"You.. joined.. twitter?" Natasha repeated slowly, staring at James in utter disbelief. 

"Well," He finally had the good sense to look embarrassed. "Shuri helped."

Natasha shot Shuri a quick glance, the girl was practically glowing with mock innocence. Returning her attention to the monitor, she read aloud, "Birds are friends, not food-"

Understanding dawned as she took in the fuzzy picture of Sam in full tactical gear flying away from an explosion, and a bio that read "I can fly but only with help." This was meant to be a prank, and James and Shuri were the trolls. 

"What do you think?" James asked. 

Eyeing the profile picture, Natasha tried very hard not to laugh. "Why does it matter what I think?"

"Because," James gave her hand a gentle squeeze, tilting his head in earnest. "You're my ride or die."

Natasha snorted. "Over the last three weeks, approximately how much time did you spend on the internet?"

Shrugging non-nonchalantly, James picked up the recording device and handed it to Natasha, changing the subject.

"Shuri has this virtual reality software that can use motion capture to create an animation," James played back his fight with the sparring dummy. Natasha recognized his sloppy movements in the crude animation of Sam as he fought a large pink starfish wearing swim trunks. 

"Sam is more of a boxer than a bar brawler," Natasha said lightly, commenting on his attempt to copy Sam's fighting style. James and Shuri both raised their brows. 

"Would you like to try?" Shuri asked through a smirk. Natasha returned it with a smirk of her own.  

Less than a minute later, Shuri had snapped motion capture bracelets to her wrists and ankles and Natasha was purposefully losing to a cartoon character.

"You're doing amazing, sweetie!" James called as he circled the makeshift match.

"Now you've got him repeating memes," Natasha huffed as the dummy landed a blow to her ribs. "Thanks for that Shuri-"

"Happy to help!" Shuri called back from her spot beneath the monitors. 

 

 

 ***

 

 

"I don't know what Nick thought would happen, but these organizations are gaining influence on our watch and we are too worried about public opinion to do anything about it-"

They were walking through the market district just west of the palace in search of dinner. Shuri had posted their stupid little video and James was proudly reciting the online engagement every few minutes as the amount of likes and retweets grew. Natasha should probably feel a little guilty for taking part in this prank. She had firmly placed herself outside Sam and James' childish rivalry, refusing to take sides. 

But after the month she'd had, it had felt good to laugh and joke without fear of exposure. 

"The terrorists aren't going to wait for the world to return normal." Natasha continued, voicing the thoughts that had been plaguing her for weeks. "It's as fragile as it's ever been and they'll take full advantage."

"Tea," James murmured, fitting his palm around hers as they walked.

Natasha narrowed her eyes and pulled them to a stop in the middle of the busy street. "Remember when you were a hermit? Those were the days.."

James let out a bark of a laugh before taking a half step toward her. He filled her vision, his shaggy hair and piercing blue eyes enveloping all her senses.

"God I missed you," He breathed, their noses almost touching. 

A sense of peace bloomed in her chest and Natasha smiled as James closed the distance between them. He kissed her slow and tender, traffic bustling around them. She had yet to decide if their reunion would be their salvation or their destruction, but as James moved a hand to the back of her neck to knot in her hair, she decided she didn't care. 

Pain and heartbreak had been their constant companions during their too long lives. It was about time the universe had cut them a break. 

"You get two memes a day," Natasha mumbled against his lips. "Use them wisely."

James pulled back just enough to look her in the eye, his expression calculating. "Four-"

"Two."

"Three," He countered again. 

Natasha chuckled then leaned up on her tiptoes to press another peck against his mouth. "Two."

"Fine," James gave her a lopsided grin. "Two."

They set off down the street once more, James throwing and arm around her shoulders and proudly announcing that they had reached 500 retweets.

 

 

*** 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
